


A Matter Of Trust

by malinaldarose (coralysendria)



Category: Earth: Final Conflict
Genre: Community: trope_bingo, Episode Related, Episode: s02e21 Message in a Bottle, Gen, Trope Bingo Amnesty, Trope Bingo Round 12
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-23
Updated: 2019-05-23
Packaged: 2020-03-09 21:37:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18925462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coralysendria/pseuds/malinaldarose
Summary: Colonel Liam Kincaid considers whether or not he can trust the new leader of the Resistance.





	A Matter Of Trust

**Author's Note:**

> This fills the In Another Man's Shoes square on one of my recent Trope Bingo cards, for Round Twelve's Amnesty.

Liam Kincaid -- the _real_ Liam Kincaid -- stared intently at the monitor on his desk; it displayed the security feed from the brig, where his three "guests" were currently arguing. Well, two of them were arguing. The third, the hacker known as Augur, was lying, apparently at his ease, on the brig's single cot, pecking at a tiny calculator he held carefully in his bound hands. 

Ms. Cook, her hands also bound, her sharp features hurt and furious, was circling the man who was calling himself Liam Kincaid demanding to know his real identity. Colonel Kincaid was curious to see whether the kid would break. Would he reveal his secrets to regain Ms. Cook's trust? While Kincaid was certain that the kid could -- and would -- hold out against enemies, could he maintain his silence in the face of losing a friend?

Despite himself, Kincaid was impressed with what he had seen so far of the new leader of the Resistance. He had been...irked...when the kid had so spectacularly appeared from nowhere, claiming his identity. He and his superiors had decided to allow the surprisingly deft masquerade to continue -- though he had nearly called it all off again when he found out who the kid really was. Operation Dark Knight had people in all the major resistance groups. Doors' Liberation wasn't the only one out there; backed by Doors' money, though, they were certainly the largest and most effective. After all, they had managed to do what no other group -- not even covert governmental operations like ODK -- had done. They had cracked the Companion Protectors themselves, first with Will Boone and now with his successor, the supposed Major Kincaid.

Thanks to his own operatives, however, Colonel Kincaid knew everything there was to know about the supposed major. He had so far suppressed the information; in Operation Dark Knight, only he and the person who had passed him the intel from within the Liberation itself knew the truth about the man. He hadn't even passed it up the chain of command. As far as the men stationed here at Mount Weather were concerned, he was genuinely trying to discover the true identity of the man who was impersonating him. In reality, he only wanted to make his own evaluation of Liam Beckett; otherwise he would have ordered his men to snatch the Jaridian probe, but leave the kid and his friends behind.

The question, he supposed, was whether or not the fate of the world could be trusted on the slender shoulders of a man who was really an alien child in disguise. Liam was the most highly-placed covert operative in the entire Taelon hierarchy; they _needed_ him. And he seemed to be well aware of that fact. But, given his age and lack of actual experience, could he be trusted to get the job done?

Another worrying aspect of Liam's position was that the kid did seem to genuinely care about the fate of the Taelons, which -- given his ancestry -- was a little odd. The Taelons had committed genocide against the Kimera, saving only Liam's father Ha'gel, whom they imprisoned for millenia. When he finally did escape their confinement, they ordered him hunted down and killed. And the Taelons were the ultimate cause of Liam's human mother's death as well. But...was Liam's loyalty to the Taelons in general, or merely to Da'an in particular? He did seem to be rather closer to Da'an than was usual for Protector and Companion. On the other hand, Will Boone had become surprisingly loyal to Da'an, as well. And yet, Liam was obviously just as committed to humanity. It was something of a paradox.

And so it was with matters of loyalty and trust that Colonel Kincaid wrestled as he watched Ms. Cook argue with Liam, as he watched Liam refuse to reveal anything about himself and make his passionate defense -- "You had a life before the Taelons arrived. Are you the same person now? Is anyone?" He wondered how much of Liam's rhetoric was drawn from his own confrontation with the man.

So far, it appeared that Liam _was_ someone who could be trusted. He was impetuous and brash -- youthful qualities that only time and real-world experience would smooth away -- but how many other seven-month-olds could do what he had done? He had certainly shown a willingness to sacrifice himself if necessary, as demonstrated by his shielding of Augur from the probe's weapon not even an hour ago. Kincaid wondered if anyone other than perhaps Augur himself realized that the kid had actually caught the weapon's energy and done... _something_ with it. Certainly, Liam's hands had appeared to be paining him when he regained consciousness -- but he _had_ regained consciousness. If that bolt had hit Augur, it was doubtful that the man would now be sitting up and telling his friends to kiss and make up. Liam's obvious discomfort was part of the reason that Kincaid had left the kid's hands unbound when he'd ordered the prisoners back to the brig.

That, and he wanted to see if Liam would use his shaqarava either to try to escape or to demonstrate to Ms. Cook the truth. Frankly, he was curious to see a demonstration himself. But it did not appear that Liam was prepared to take either course. It seemed he _could_ keep secrets, even if it cost him friends.

Kincaid sighed. Sooner or later, he was going to have to release them; he couldn't keep them forever. The disappearance of Companion Protector Major Kincaid would cause too many problems, and he wasn't in the business of killing innocent people. Augur's criminal record aside, these three were innocent. He supposed he was just going to have to trust young Liam after all.

Decision made, Kincaid shoved himself to his feet and went to check on Bettis' progress with the probe.


End file.
